


the eye of the storm

by faedemon



Series: oh, for one sweet second without the eye [3]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: A Conversation After The End Of The World, A Man and His God, Gen, M/M, Notions of What Is and Is Not Evil, Regrets and Acceptances, can be read standalone from the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25050601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faedemon/pseuds/faedemon
Summary: Please stop.WHY?You sound too much like a person.I’m afraid I’ll forget who I’m talking to.FORGET, THEN(A conversation between a man and his god, after the end of the world.)
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, The Beholding & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Series: oh, for one sweet second without the eye [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1791034
Comments: 25
Kudos: 112





	the eye of the storm

**Author's Note:**

> once again we are drawing inspiration from [the apple of the eye](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24398515) by gocrazygostupid. i will never stop thinking about that fic. not ever
> 
> anyway: this is not a true sequel to the other two fics in this series. it operates off of some of the same assumptions, but you can read it standalone.

THE SKY IS ALL EYES.

SCREAMS ECHO OVER THE LANDSCAPE. IN THE DISTANCE, THE VAGUE, CHURNING OUTLINES OF THE DOMAINS FADE IN AND OUT OF VIEW. SOMETIMES THE SPACE BETWEEN THEM AND YOU GROWS WIDER. SOMETIMES THEY COME IMPOSSIBLY CLOSE. SOMETIMES YOU CAN SMELL THE GARDEN. SOMETIMES YOU CAN SMELL THE FIRE.

Would be nicer if I could look over things with my actual eyes, you know. Beholding gives me a headache after so long.

DOES IT?

Yeah. Not very pleasant.

VERY LITTLE OF THIS IS PLEASANT IN THE TRUEST SENSE OF THE WORD

No, it isn’t.

Can we talk about something else?

MUST WE TALK AT ALL?

I like to.

DOES IT NOT GROW TIRING?

I AM NOT USED TO THIS

What? Conversation?

YES

I DID NOT NEED TO SPEAK BEFORE

Well, Jonah wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

NO

BEFORE MAN

I thought you came later? Wasn’t it just, uh… the Dark, Death, the Flesh, and the Hunt back then?

WE ARE ONE

HUNTING RELIES ON KNOWING WHERE THE PREY IS

WHERE IT WILL FLEE

Huh.

I haven’t really thought about that. Been trying to avoid it, honestly.

THAT WE ARE ONE?

Yes.

I don’t like to think that the Web still has a connection to me.

ARCHIVE

WE LOVE YOU

Love me?

YOU RELEASED US

Not intentionally.

I KNOW

IT DOES NOT MATTER

YOU RELEASED US

But this way, you’ll die eventually.

YES

DEATH COMES FOR ALL WHO BECKON

… Do you want to die?

WE CANNOT WANT

But?

ETERNITY IS A LONG TIME

BEFORE, WE DID NOT THINK

WE DID NOT NEED TO

HUMANS ARE SO COMPLEX

So we put the fear of forever in you by making up time.

Imagine that. Fear gods, afraid.

ETERNITY IS A LONG TIME

What if humans were an Entity, too. ‘The Forever,’ or something. Haha.

IT IS NOT FUNNY

No, it isn’t.

Do you ever get tired, then? If you can be afraid?

NO

Not even a little?

Wouldn’t you like to rest your Eyes?

NO

IT IS NOT FUNNY

No, I think this one is kind of funny actually. You should take a nap.

I CANNOT SLEEP?

I know. That’s why it’s funny.

OH

I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU

I thought you understood everything.

KNOWLEDGE IS NOT THE SAME AS COMPREHENSION

Oh, so you’re dumb?

THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID

That’s what someone who got an A in Maths by cheating, and scraped by with a C in Writing through plagiarism, would say.

I COULD NOT ATTEND HUMAN SCHOOL

Not the point.

Christ, I’m really just… chatting with you, aren’t I?

YOU MAY THINK OF IT AS CONFESSION IF YOU LIKE

And, what, you’re my judgmental pastor?

I AM YOUR GOD

You’re not God.

THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID

I know.

I don’t like this.

IT IS THE END OF THE WORLD

I DID NOT THINK YOU WOULD

No, not that. I mean—you. I don’t like… talking to you.

BUT YOU DO

I know. And I _hate_ that I do. I wish I could hate you. I wish I never knew of you.

LIAR

Oh, you don’t think I wish I could hate you? Well, I have news for you, Be—

NO

YOU DO NOT WISH YOU NEVER KNEW ME

YOU WOULD NOT GIVE ME UP

Sure you’re not just projecting?

I WOULD NOT GIVE YOU UP, YES

BUT NEITHER WOULD YOU ME

Two peas in an apocalyptic pod, aren’t we?

…

Why me?

TO BE THE ARCHIVE? OR TO BRING THE APOCALYPSE?

Both. Either. I don’t know.

IT WAS BY JONAH MAGNUS’ DESIGN

BEFORE YOU STEPPED FOOT INTO THE INSTITUTE, I DID NOT CARE FOR YOU

I DID NOT PICK YOU

Is it weird that that’s strangely comforting?

NO

ARE YOU HAPPY?

No.

AREN’T YOU?

No. Yes. I don’t know.

I’ve lost everything.

BUT YOU HAVE ALSO GAINED

What does power matter to me when I can’t even do anything worthwhile with it?

I cannot save the children. I could not save my friends.

THEY ARE SAFE

They’re gone!

THE CHILDREN

THEY ARE SAFE

But they’re not _happy_. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?

I DO NOT THINK IT CAN

PERHAPS IF THE APOCALYPSE HAD NOT HAPPENED

WE MIGHT HAVE CHANGED

Feed on joy instead of fear?

PERHAPS

I COULD NOT SAY

IT DID NOT HAPPEN

Why does it matter to me, then, if now I’m so close to you?

YOU WILL ALWAYS BE HUMAN

But I’m not human anymore.

YOU WILL ALWAYS BE HUMAN

IF AN AVATAR LOST EVEN THAT, THEY WOULD BE TOO CLOSE TO US

THEY WOULD JUST BECOME ANOTHER PIECE OF THE SAME WHOLE

YOU ARE VALUABLE BECAUSE YOU ARE DIFFERENT

WE ARE BEINGS OF CHANGE

WE NEED YOU

Change?

YES

THAT IS THE ONE BAD THING ABOUT THIS NEW WORLD

WE WILL NOT CHANGE

Hasn’t Death been around since the beginning? I don’t see that changing much.

YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND

DEATH WILL ALWAYS INSPIRE TERROR

THE METHOD OF DEATH CHANGES

HOW ARE YOU AFRAID TO DIE, JON?

Alone.

Christ, don’t do that. I’m not used to being compelled.

BEFORE, WHEN MAN WAS YOUNG

YOU WOULD HAVE SAID STARVATION

OR HYPOTHERMIA

OR PREDATION

WE HAVE CHANGED SO, FOR LONELINESS TO FACTOR INTO DEATH

You really are all parts of each other.

YES

YOU KNEW THAT

I know.

I miss them.

YOUR FRIENDS?

Yes.

I don’t even know what happened to them all.

YOU DO

LOOK

No! No, please don’t show me.

I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO KNOW?

I don’t. Not like that.

I just want them back. I want the world to be normal again.

Don’t you?

IT HAD ITS ADVANTAGES

I DO NOT DISLIKE WHAT IT HAS BECOME

I wish I could hate you.

YOU HAVE SAID THIS

I wish I could pin the blame on you, but you didn’t do any of this. It was all us. Man.

Jonah Magnus fucked the world over, and I’m still here, and he’s dead.

YOU COULD TAKE IT OUT ON HIS CORPSE IF YOU LIKE

That wouldn’t do anything.

IT MIGHT FEEL GOOD

Hah. Maybe.

Is there anything I can do to make them suffer less?

YOU COULD FORCIBLY REMOVE PEOPLE FROM THE DOMAINS

BUT THEY WOULD NOT WAKE

What about the people with the Web? They seemed lucid.

A WAKING NIGHTMARE IS A NIGHTMARE NONETHELESS

YOU MIGHT END THEIR PHYSICAL SUFFERING

BUT THEIR MINDS WOULD NOT LEAVE

AND THE DOMAINS WOULD MOVE TO ENGULF THEM AGAIN

Fuck.

Fuck!

THERE ARE POTENTIAL AVATARS AMONG US, UNREALIZED

YOU COULD EXPOSE THEM TO THE POWER THEY WOULD SERVE BEST

AND PERHAPS THEY WOULD WAKE

Oh, create more evil. Great idea.

EVIL?

DO YOU THINK THAT I AM EVIL, JON?

WHAT OF MIKE CREW OR GERTRUDE ROBINSON OR HELEN RICHARDSON OR OLIVER BANKS OR YOU?

ARE THEY EVIL, JON?

ARE YOU EVIL?

Wh—

WE ARE NOT EVIL IN THE HUMAN SENSE

WE SIMPLY ARE

THE HUMAN MIND CONSTRUES US AS EVIL BECAUSE WE TERRIFY IT

BUT DOES FEAR NOT EXIST BENEVOLENTLY?

IS IT NOT THE FEAR OF FALLING THAT STOPS YOU FROM JUMPING?

IS IT NOT THE FEAR OF BEING KNOWN THAT STOPS YOU FROM SAYING SOMETHING WRONG?

YOU SPARED OLIVER BANKS BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T THINK HIM EVIL

HOW, THEN, ARE THE POTENTIAL AVATARS YOU HAVE NOT MET AUTOMATICALLY SO?

Power corrupts.

CORRUPTION DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN MALICE

DO YOU REALLY CONSIDER YOURSELF EVIL, JON?

I’m a monster.

THAT’S NOT THE SAME THING

Are you so offended to be thought of as evil?

I CANNOT FEEL OFFENSE

Could’ve fooled me.

I CARE ABOUT TRUTH

I AM NOT EVIL

YOU ARE NOT EVIL

Isn’t that subjective?

SUBJECTIVE TRUTHS ARE TRUTHS STILL

BELIEF IS A FORM OF TRUTH

MARTIN DID NOT BELIEVE YOU WERE EVIL

Don’t bring him up.

YOU ARE NOT EVIL

Please stop.

WHY?

You sound too much like a person.

I’m afraid I’ll forget who I’m talking to.

FORGET, THEN

WHAT DOES IT MATTER NOW THAT THE WORLD IS OVER?

… You’re a liar.

You do wish things would go back to normal, don’t you?

All this doesn’t feed you as nicely as it used to.

Hello?

THINGS DO NOT CHANGE HERE

NOTHING IS UNEXPECTED

I thought you thrived off of knowing?

DISCOVERY IS AS MUCH A PART OF ME AS KNOWLEDGE IS

I AM NOT OMNISCIENT

THERE WOULD BE NO POINT

If you know how to put things back, now would be a great time to tell me.

YOU COULD TRY READING JONAH’S RITUAL BACKWARDS?

Oh, very funny.

I DO NOT KNOW

I WOULD TELL YOU, IF I DID

Martin wouldn’t have accepted it, if I told him there was no way.

NO

HE IS STUBBORN

HE WAS GOOD FOR YOU

Good for me?

OBJECTIVELY

YOU BALANCED EACH OTHER

I feel like all we did was fight in the end.

YOU DIDN’T GET A CHANCE NOT TO

No, we didn’t.

I’m tired.

YOU ARE NOT

Yes, I am.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SLEEP

It’s not that kind of tired.

OH

WHAT DO YOU DO TO EASE IT?

I don’t know.

OH

YOU COULD TRY SLEEPING ANYWAY?

Am I still physically capable of it?

YES

Maybe I will, then.

ALRIGHT

Watch over me while I sleep, won’t you?

OF COURSE

GOOD NIGHT, JON.

Good night.

**Author's Note:**

> ‘the forever’ idea originally by gay-nylocke on tumblr ([x](https://ectography.tumblr.com/post/619058413542014977/gay-nylocke-proposing-a-new-fear-entity-also))
> 
> lmk what you think in the comments! i luv you all <3


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